


Dusk ‘till Dawn

by salacious



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, MILF! Nat, OOC Nat, OOC steve, apologies in advance, ”James Romanoff”
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2019-08-28 12:23:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16723329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salacious/pseuds/salacious
Summary: Someone should have warned her about the hot next door neighbour and how he was going to steal her son.Okay, well, maybe “steal” isn’t the correct word, but she’s starting to feel alittlejealous and she’s not used to James gushing about anyone but her.So, yes, maybe “steal” is the correct word because she refuses to think she’s beenreplaced,okay?





	1. I N T R O

_Hello! Am I starting another fic without finishing my other two? Why, yes, yes I am._

_I’d say I’m sorry, but then I’d be lying and that’s just wrong, lol._

_So, we’re just going to ignore my impulsive nature and choose to focus on SteveNat and how much we love them!_

_First, I should warn you that keeping these amazing characters in character, isn’t really my forte. So, expect them to be a little OOC. I mean, I made Nat the MILF in the story, lmao._

_Second, I plan on writing smut, because I’m a perv that loves SteveNat smut._

_Third, I have a touch of angst planned but a happy ending is always something I plan._

_Relationships that will be mentioned; Clint/Laura, Sam/Maria, Tony/Pepper._

_Hope you enjoy the craziness I have planned!_

_**First chapter will be posted by Sunday, Nov 25 (maybe before, I just need to add a few finishing touches.)** _

_**xx** salacious_


	2. P R O L O G U E

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James goes missing and brings back a new friend.

James was missing.

She didn’t know when or what happened, but one second she was trudging up the stairs with what felt like the thirteenth box of his things, just listening to him mindlessly babbling about how he wanted her to accommodate things in his room, and the next it was completely silent.

Thing is, she didn’t notice _when_. Because she loves her son with every fibre of her being, but there’s just so much she can focus on when she’s worried about everything else. She was _tired_ – the flight of stairs had seemed like a good idea when she came to see the house, she didn’t know _why_ , she just always wanted a house with stairs and now that James was old enough to carefully walk down them, it didn’t seem like much of a problem.

But then she was walking up and down – maybe ten times in the past five minutes? – just trying to finally empty the U-Haul truck she rented so that she could _then_ move on to emptying their boxes. She just wanted to make their first home _theirs_.

This was a first for them both. For the first four years of his life, they lived with Clint and Laura and she loved them, loved them _dearly_. But this? This was something she dreamt of ever since Beatrice kicked her out of her house for becoming “another number in the teenage pregnancy statistics.”

Natasha had been nineteen when James was born and it wasn’t _ideal_ , but there was _nothing_ she would change. Living with Clint and Laura opened up opportunities for her that would have otherwise been impossible. They gave her a roof over her head, fed her and helped her the countless nights she stayed up to care for James whilst she studied at the local community college for her Associates Degree in Business.

So yeah, things might not have been ideal – were they ever? – but she was _happy_. The smile on James’ face and his affinity for stars and life itself made _everything_ worth it – even the haul up the damn stairs.

Clint had offered to help, but she didn’t want him to request off from work, especially now that Laura was pregnant. She would do things on her own because she _could_ , she was capable. It didn’t mean that it made the work any less stressful.

Especially now that she noticed her son wasn’t babbling next to her.

“J, sweetheart, where are you?” Her voice was relatively levelled as she looked around the bedrooms. She looked in his first, but the mess of boxes and the _silence_ was indicative enough to know James wasn’t there.

It wasn’t that he was a loud kid and she knew that sometimes when he was silent he could be up to no good, but she also _knew_ her son. She knew that he loved talking to her and showing her things and just _exploring_. He had explored enough of his bedroom, knew every inch and knew exactly where he wanted his galaxy rug to be at.

So, he had to be somewhere else.

She went into her bedroom next.

The bedroom was pretty much everything she ever dreamt about. It was big enough for her queen sized bed and white wood furniture. It had a lovely walk-in closet – enough space for her countless row of shoes – and an even better bathroom.

But her favourite part was the window seat and the view. Their house was at the far end of the cul-de-sac, which meant they had a bit more privacy than the other houses around and a perfect view of the woods behind-

Her heart stopped.

There was no way James had gone into the woods.

_No way._

Her son knew better than to-

Her son did _not_ know better than to go off exploring the world on his own.

Natasha hissed in a breath, her heart stammering in her chest as her mind began to fast forward all the terrible things that could happen to him.

“J!” Her voice cracked as she dashed to the bathroom in the hall, then to the guest bedroom and then down the stairs. “James!” Her voice was no longer calm. It revealed just how panicked she became at the mere thought of – no. She was _not_ going to do that to herself.

As she dashed down the stairs, she kept calling his name, too preoccupied with his absence to notice the pile of toys on the last step. “Fuck!” She whimpered, grimacing as she stepped on a Hot Wheels car designed to limp her and allowed the string of curses past her trembling lips.

She usually wasn’t so…panicked. But she was stressed, and tired, and _hungry_ , and this was _new_ , which meant James would want to explore _everything_ around them. And, although, she loved his inquisitive little brain, she also hated how much he wanted to get to know _everything_.

It was her fault, really. She should have been paying more attention, she should have known to keep the door locked because even though she wanted to make things easier for her when she walked up and down the driveway, she should have _known_ that James was eventually going to want to explore.

“James! Honey, where are you?” Her voice was _not_ cracking and her eyes were _not_ watering. She was just sweaty from all the running around she was doing!

After checking every possible room in the house, she had no other option than to run outside. “James!”

The good thing about this neighbourhood was the lack of cars going by. Everything was relatively quiet – save for her shouting her son’s name, but she, quite frankly, didn’t care. She wanted to find her son, _needed_ to find him.

“James!” She walked down the driveway to her car and around the house. He was nowhere in sight. Her flip-flops snapped loudly as she walked down the street, her eyes glanced around with a bit of a crazed look, and her hair kept swinging all over the place, flying over her eyes and that just frustrated her even more.

As she walked by the house next door, she noticed a tiny body with a full head of blond hair and she just _knew_. For a short second, she was so relieved to know that her son didn’t run off into the trail, that she didn’t care that she was running into a stranger’s garage.

“James!” She rushed to him grabbing his little shoulders and turning him around to squeeze him nearly to death. “God,” she breathed, deeply as her shoulders sagged in relief, “honey, don’t ever do that to me again, okay?”

She pulled back, brushing her fingertips against his cheeks and kissed him multiple times.

“Do what again, mama?”

“Scare me,” she gulped, “don’t leave the house without me, sweetheart. You can’t…you can’t just run off, okay?”

He nodded, lowering his eyes bashfully because he understood that his mom wasn’t very happy – and yet, it was the cutest thing ever. “I’m sorry, mama.” He kissed her cheek because he knew that would melt her into goo. “But I was talking to my friend!”

James was a very social person, he would make friends in the blink of an eye. That didn’t mean that he trusted everyone – although, it seemed that she would need to have the stranger-danger talk with him again – he was a very good judge of character. It didn’t worry her any less, though, when he mentioned his friend.

“Your friend?” She frowned.

James nodded, his blue eyes twinkling with excitement. “Yes, mama! Mister Steve!”

She stood up, straightening her back as she slid her hands down her jean shorts. When he said _Mister Steve_ she was expecting an old, sweet man, like a sweet grandfather from those Hallmark movies. Not… _not whatever the hell was standing in front of her!_

Okay, not _what_ , but _who_.

It appeared that Mister Steve was…well, maybe a descendant from some Greek gods? The man was tall with a broad, muscular frame and a shade of blond hair that matched James more than her chemically treated one.

It shouldn’t have bothered her so much that someone else in the world managed to get the exact same shade of blond hair that James did, but it somewhat did. She had spent a lot of money trying to _look_ like she was her son’s mother. If she hadn’t _seen_ him the second she was giving birth, she would have doubted that he was hers.

She didn’t have blue eyes, neither did Alexei and he certainly didn’t have the shade of blond hair that her son did. Those turquoise coloured little eyes managed to turn her into putty the moment he looked at her.

Her hair was a pretty shade of red that she really did miss at times, when she became nostalgic and all. And when she went back to the hair salon to hide her red roots because maintaining the blonde locks was expensive.

“Hello,” he smiled at her, it was sweet. “I’m Steve.”

“Natasha,” she returned the smile, albeit smaller and a little more guarded than his was.

His cheeks had black smear marks over them, his hands were covered in the same thing and his grey shirt – the one that seemed to stick to him like a second skin – was dirty too. The man was just dirty – and she was gonna ignore the opportunity her brain took to make a sexual innuendo.

“Mister Steve is working on his motorcycle,” James spoke up, “he was showing me how to turn the wrench, mama!”

“That’s great, hun. Why don’t we go back home now? That way Mister Steve can finish working on his bike and we won’t bother him.”

“It’s no bother at all!” Steve smiled again. “He’s a good kid.”

James beamed up at him, pleased with the praise and widened his eyes as he noticed the telescope on the far end of his workbench. “Mama, look! A telescope!”

“J, sweetheart, don’t touch Mister Steve’s things.” She felt a little silly calling him _Mister Steve_ but she wasn’t addressing _him_ , so she figured it would be okay.

“Okay, mama.” James clasped his hands behind his back, just standing in front of the telescope with wide, inquisitive eyes. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, fighting the urge to look at the telescope.

Ever since they watched a documentary on _Netflix_ about space and the planets, James became obsessed with anything that pertained to the galaxy. He knew the constellations by heart, where to find them and spent most of his time gazing up at the stars with a sense of awe.

It was probably the most amazing thing to experience, your kid becoming so fascinated by something so beautiful and learning so much about it at such a young age. She loved watching his eyes light up and his little cheeks reddening as excitement rushed through him.

“I’m sorry,” Natasha spoke softly, gnawing on her bottom lip nervously. She didn’t know him, and she felt like she was intruding into his personal space – well, in a way, she was. She was in his garage without being invited in.

“Don’t worry,” he smiled fondly at James. “He’s interesting to talk to.”

“Yeah,” she scoffed out a chuckle, “has a million questions about everything!”

Steve chuckled, quiet and deep. “It just shows how attentive he is.”

After a few seconds of silence, she cleared her throat, trying to get James’ attention. “Okay, J, we should go now. We still have a few boxes to unload from the truck and we don’t want to keep bothering Mister Steve.”

Steve opened his mouth, as if he wanted to argue that they truly were no bother, but he also didn’t want to make Natasha uncomfortable by saying the wrong thing. If he kept insisting that they were no trouble, James would want to stay and even though _he_ had no issues with it, it was obvious that Natasha wanted to go back to her house.

“But mama, I’m too little,” James sighed, sagging his shoulders as he kicked his way back to her. His hands were shoved in his jean pockets and he pouted his little lips cutely. Oh, he was good. He had perfected the “make mama guilty” look over the years, but she was slowly becoming immune.

It seemed that Steve, however, was not immune to her son’s charms.

“That’s okay, honey. You can help me by taking things out of the boxes!”

For a short second, James widened his eyes. They were bright as if he had just thought up the most fantastic idea in the world and turned to Steve.

“Mister Steve,” he fluttered his eyelashes – there was _the_ look again! “you’re big, right?”

Steve frowned momentarily, glancing at Natasha. Her eyebrow was raised as she looked down at James, but her face wasn’t giving anything away. He wasn’t sure what to do or say. “Uh, yeah.”

“So, that means you can help mama with her boxes!”

“James, honey, Mister Steve is busy. We don’t want to bother him.” She didn’t want to meet his eyes because if she did, she would feel like she’s pressuring him into something he didn’t want to do.

Besides, it was just a few boxes! She had done most of the heavy lifting! She just didn’t want to keep bothering the man.

“I can help,” Steve spoke softly, “that’s of course if you want me to.”

Of course, he’d leave it up to her to make the decision! There she was trying to let the man be and he was making it so that she _couldn’t_ let him be.

“Okay,” James made the decision for them both. He took a hold of Steve’s hand and began pulling him out of the garage.

Natasha didn’t know what to do. She just stood there, staring at her son with an agape expression as he walked Steve to their truck. It was comical after a short while. Steve was _so_ tall and James – for his age – was very small.

Steve had to bend down a bit so that James could hold his hand comfortably – and the height difference between them shouldn’t have made her laugh as much as it did.

They waited for Natasha to climb up on the truck ramp, so she could call the shots and she tried her hardest to not feel uncomfortable at how easily Steve and James manoeuvred around each other. Okay, no, that wasn’t the word.

It’s just – he was a stranger, but with the excited way James spoke to him and _looked_ at him, it felt like the man had been there from the very first day. She liked that he treated her son with so much care in the – fifteen minutes? – he knew him.

“Mama!” James ran across the living room – where Steve had been helping him unpack his favourite toys – into the kitchen where she was preparing them something to eat.

She was making them garlic grilled cheese sandwiches and a fruit salad – and by them, she meant James and herself. She wasn’t sure if she should make some for Steve or even offer. He _had_ helped her carry the last few boxes in and maybe she could apologise for her son’s… _curiosity_ by feeding him.

“Mister Steve has tools!”

Natasha frowned, tucking back a loose blonde strand into her bun as she looked down at him. “That’s good.”

“He can help you build the TV!”

“The TV…” she trailed off, trying to figure out what he meant. “Oh! The TV stand?”

James nodded his head excitedly, his cheeks reddening adorably. “Yeah!”

“Honey, he already helped us with the boxes. We can’t bother him again.”

“But, mama, he said he could help!” He pouted, almost exasperated that she didn’t seem to understand things the way he did.

As if on cue, Steve appeared under the archway of the kitchen.

“So,” Natasha began, “I’m, uh, making grilled cheese sandwiches…did you want some?”

Steve fidgeted a little, not because he didn’t want to, but because…well, he couldn’t. He had promised Sam that they would meet for lunch because every time he brought it up, Steve would give him an “excuse.” It wasn’t, he was busy, but there was no way to convince Sam otherwise.

And even though he _really_ wanted to stay just a bit longer with James and Nat, he’d have to leave it for another time.

“You don’t have to!” Natasha blurted out, feeling a bit pressured by his silence. “I just…it’s the least I can do after you helped me with the boxes.”

“I don’t mind,” He shrugged an arm, his smile returning and becoming a tad boyish. “I just…is it okay if I take a rain check on that offer? My friend wants to meet for lunch and if I put it off any longer, he might kidnap me.”

“Y-yeah,” she nodded, smiling a little, “of course! Just tell me when you’d like me to pay up.”

“Alright, bud,” Steve knelt to be at eye-level with James. “I’m gonna go now.” James pouted. “But let me know when your mom needs me to come over to help with the TV stand.” He glanced up at Natasha, to silently let her know that if she didn’t need him, she just had to say it. “Just make sure you let her know before you come over okay? We don’t want to scare her again.”

James nodded with the most solemn expression a five-year-old could muster. It was adorable and somewhat alarming.

Nick had said that the neighbourhood was safe and the perfect place to raise her son, but… _what if_? It’s not like serial killers ran around with huge neon signs above their head!

And, yet…

Steve whatever-his-last-name-was seemed harmless. Hell, the scariest part about him was how easily James trusted him. And, the height. And, his smile, that was scary too. Not because it was ugly, but because it was beautiful. That was scary to people, right?

Well, at least to people that were attracted to the opposite sex and hadn’t been on a date for the past six years. Not that she wanted to date him!

They walked him to the door and James grinned excitedly as he waved. “Bye, Mister Steve!”

“Bye, kiddo!”

How did a man that was still covered in smeared black oil still manage to look like he should walk down the runway?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The character I mentioned as "Beatrice" is my version of Madame B in Natasha's past. This sorta jumps straight into the plot, but I will be focusing more on each character as the story progresses :D


	3. T H E →  N E I G H B O U R S

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha meets a few more people from Marvel Hilltops community.

Natasha remembers the day that James was born as if it had been yesterday. The pain and tears, the ridiculously long labour and poor Laura holding her hand tightly because Clint was taking care of Cooper. He had been the one to hold Laura when she gave birth to Cooper, but Natasha has threatened to slit his throat if he kept reminding her how to breathe.

She knew how to breathe! It’s not something you _learned_! It was something that came naturally. Did she _forget_ to breathe? Yes, but she wouldn’t admit that she understood why he kept saying it.

She was in labour for 18 hours - which, okay, some mothers had done it for a longer time. But she was hungry and tired and _so sick_ of the hospital smell. So, those 18 hours felt more like an entire month just waiting for her babe to come out.

And then, he was so small. It was unbelievable that she went through so much pain for such a tiny little bean. It didn’t matter though. The moment she laid eyes on him, she loved him more than anything in the world.

She cried and held him, staring at him in awe and adoration. He was _hers_ , this tiny little human was hers and she loved him so much she thought her heart would burst.

Alexei wasn’t there for the labour. He had to work, and she didn’t hold that against him. They were young and would need the money to care for their new little family. But he did come after his shift to meet his son and he was quite caring with them both.

Their relationship was a little unconventional. They didn’t love each other, it had just been a night of lust and stupid decisions, but they handled their newfound family with maturity and commitment.

Alexei promised to help care for their son, he promised that even though they didn’t love each other, they would stay amiable for the sake of the baby. And that’s all Natasha really cared about.

She had grown into the foster care program, but she had a faint memory of what good parents were – she wanted that for her child; good parents. Her parents had been sweet and loved her beyond words and as the days went by, their deaths hurt a little less.

They were but a faint memory. She was sad at times; hurt that she didn’t get the upbringing she wanted or the time spent with her parents. It hurt not being able to remember how they looked or sounded like.

The foster program wasn’t all bad, though. She was taken in by a woman named Beatrice or “Madame B.” She was more authoritarian than strict, but she did care for Natasha. She had even helped her get into the community college and allowed her to stay living with her even after she turned 18.

But when she found out she was pregnant, Beatrice cut all ties with her. Kicked her out into the street with a few hundred dollars rolled into her hand and a case of clothes.

Natasha didn’t resent her for that, either. It hurt, and she cried, she was desperate to find a place for her and her child, but she understood that it was _her_ responsibility. Still, it didn’t make the process after that any easier.

Alexei lived in campus with a few rowdy roommates. When she told him about her situation, he offered her his room. She lasted a week. Living with college boys that relied on their mothers for clean underwear was not the environment she wanted for her baby.

She wasn’t a very religious person, she never really thought about any of it until she found herself one night, sitting in the bench of an empty church. She wasn’t there to pray or seek for help, let alone forgiveness. She was well aware of the church’s stand on pregnancy outside of marriage. She just sat at the far back and sighed, trying to silently find some guidance or _something_.

She didn’t pray, but she was damn near close to.

That was the night she met Father Jameson. She found his name quite interesting, what with him being a priest and his name being a renowned liqueur brand.

He was a tall pudgy man with a sweet toothy smile and wispy white hair. His cologne was a bit strong and for the first trimester it always made her gag, but she remembers his kindness the most.

He didn’t judge her or try to convert her. He just offered silent company and an ear when she needed to talk. He was also the reason why she was able to move out of Alexei’s dorm room.

The church had a little home for those in need and as long as Natasha helped with the community kitchen, she could live there happily. That’s also how she met Clint and Laura.

They volunteered at the kitchen and they quickly warmed up to her. Their little boy, Cooper, was adorable and the more time she spent with him, the more eager she would become to meet her own baby.

The Barton’s quickly adopted her into their family and she became known as “Auntie Nat.”

When the time came to move out of the church’s guest home - to allow others in more need than her - the Barton’s opened their home and Laura threatened to tie her to their couch if she refused their offer.

After a while, things seemed to be going well. Alexei was working and doing well in his studies. Natasha kept taking classes and volunteering at the kitchen until the doctor recommended bed rest.

The pregnancy was full of hormones and cravings, but it was relatively easy. Laura had experienced almost all of her symptoms and she was able to help her through it all.

Father Jameson still cared for her. He always knitted a few little hats for her baby and reminded her that whenever she felt at her lowest, she could go to him. He became somewhat of a grandfather to her.

The first low hit two months before she was due.

Father Jameson passed away in his sleep. She couldn’t remember his funeral, it went by in a blur and heightened emotions she couldn’t control because of her hormones. She could remember crying as if she had lost a close family member.

That’s where James’ name came from, it was her way to honour a man that didn’t have to help her but did. To honour someone that cared for her without expecting anything in return. To honour a man that was kind and generous – everything she hoped her son would be. Besides, Clint made her promise not to name her son after him.

“Clinton,” he spat in mock horror, “that’s just a terrible name.”

The second low hit three months after James was born.

Alexei had gone out with his friends to celebrate something – Natasha wasn’t quite sure what, they mostly spoke exclusively about James – and became extremely intoxicated. She didn’t get all the details, she just knew that his car had flipped over the bridge and that Alexei was included in the number of fatalities.

She didn’t cry much over his death. They were friends for the sake of their son, but they never became intimate again, physically, emotionally, or through conversation. She did, however, cry over James and how he wouldn’t have a father.

That night she cradled her new-born baby and promised to love him as mother _and_ a father. Natasha would do everything in her power to make sure James never felt like he was missing something in his life.

The universe provided those paternal figures. At first, it was Clint and he treated him like his own son. They hadn’t been lying when they said she and James were part of their family.

Then came Clint’s supervisor. Nick Fury – a man that with a stare could make you confess your deepest fears. It was funny watching him go from serious stoicism to a man enchanted by a kid’s smile. James quickly wrapped him around his finger and Natasha welcomed another non-blood-related person into her little family.

Nick not only came to love James as if he were his own grandchild, he also came to love Natasha like a daughter. He ran thorough background checks on _every_ man that dared to look her way.

At first, it bothered her, she didn’t want him to go through the trouble of finding out the flaws of _every_ man she met. She could do that on her own. They all seemed to love _everything_ about her until she mentioned James – that was a recurring flaw on all of them.

She told herself that it didn’t bother her, that she didn’t care but after a while, it stung. How was it that in a world with millions of men, she couldn’t find _one_ that was _single_ and didn’t have any issues with her being a single mother?!

It’s not like she _needed_ a man in her life, but she _was_ a woman. There were certain things she desired and craved. Her hands and a few toys just weren’t enough at times. She didn’t just miss the sexual aspect of a relationship, either. She wanted the intimacy that came with having someone that cared for her, someone that worried and asked about her day.

Someone to hug and love because even though James was the centre of her universe, his hugs sometimes weren’t tight enough. And quite frankly, she wanted to hug someone that didn’t cover her hair in sugar and sticky candy.

“Mama?” James was cuddled to her side, rolling a Hot Wheels car his side.

They had just finished eating their garlic grilled cheese sandwiches and were resting for a few before they – well, _she_ – had to finish unpacking.

“Yes?” She pressed a soft kiss to his head, carding her fingers through his soft golden hair.

“I love you.” He squirmed next to her, getting on his knees and pressed a sloppy wet kiss to her cheek.

She grinned, wrapping her arms around him tightly and kissed his cheek. “I love you too, baby, more than you’ll ever know.”

James smiled, satisfied with her answer and went back to playing with his cars.

It was like he had read her mind. Who needed a man to love her when she had the perfect, sweet little person in her life?

“Mama, when are we gonna have the couch?”

She had been working all morning non-stop just trying to make their home _look_ like a house and not a pile of cardboard boxes. However, there were still a few things that she needed to bring. The furniture for the living room was on that list.

They were currently sitting on the carpeted floor, leaning against the bare walls because she still hadn’t set up the dining room. Clint had helped her set up her bedroom so that they could at least sleep there for the night. The more she thought about all the things she had to do, the more tired she became – and the more she regretted not accepting Clint’s offer to help.

“Uncle Clint is going to help me bring those things in tomorrow.”

“Yes!” He pumped his fist, making her smile at his goofiness. “Is _ded_ gonna come?”

Natasha wanted to teach him Russian, wanted him to be bilingual and master both languages. He understood a bit, but it was hard to teach him when she was the only one that spoke it. Nevertheless, he learned the basics.

Like how _ded_ meant grandpa, a title that Nick welcomed with opened arms.

“He’s away for work, so I don’t think he can come help. But he said he would come by when he’s not busy.”

James pouted his lip, pursing them unhappily. “I wanted him to meet Mister Steve.”

“Oh?” She frowned. That had come out of nowhere. “Why do you want him to meet Mister Steve?”

Natasha did _not_ want Nick to meet Steve. Hell, _she_ didn’t want to meet Steve. It was better to be those neighbours that didn’t speak to each other. He was the damn reason she was thinking about all those failed first dates!

He reminded her of all the handsome men she met that immediately treated her differently because she was a mom. Granted, Steve already knew that she was a mom, but that didn’t mean that she was going to –

To what?

_It’s not like the man asked you out on a date! The man didn’t even show any interest in you! Stop jumping to conclusions and being stupid._

James shrugged. “I like Mister Steve.”

“But why do you want Nick to meet him?”

Before he could answer – not that it seemed that he really had the answer she wanted – there was a knock on the door. She frowned, standing up and hesitated a second before going to the door.

On the other side, there was a blonde, tall woman holding a pan, accompanied by a smiling brunette.

“Hey!” The blonde one spoke up when she opened the door. She was dressed very elegantly with nude pumps and light make up. “My name’s Pepper. I’m the president of Marvel Hilltops.”

“Sounds so much nicer coming from your mouth than Tony’s,” the brunette grinned, her eyes sparkling with mischief. She was the total opposite of Pepper. She wore a pair of dark jeans and a plain, black V-neck shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and dark bangs that swooped over her eyes.

“I practically run the place,” Pepper rolled her eyes, still smiling at Natasha. “This is Maria. We just came to say hi and welcome you.”

“Mama?” James whispered, timidly standing by the hallway with half his body behind the wall.

“Hi,” Natasha reached her hand out to James but kept looking at the women in front of her. “I’m Natasha and this is my son, James.”

James held her hand, staring up at them with curious gazes. It was such a huge contrast to how he was with Steve.

“Hi, James!” Pepper grinned. “Oh, he’s just the cutest!”

Natasha smiled, part of her proud that someone else saw her son as cute as she did. He was, it’s how he managed to wrap everyone around his fingers. “Thank you.”

“Well,” Pepper held the pan out, “I made you some lemon squares. They were Nick’s favourite and I figured that if Nick liked them, his daughter would too.”

“Oh.” Natasha wasn’t used to the whole “bake for your neighbour” thing. Clint and Laura lived in an area that was a bit more secluded than where she currently was – and Beatrice was usually avoided by the neighbours for her scowl and tough demeanour. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to eat them if you don’t want to!” Pepper assured her, grimacing a little as she handed her the pan. “I just wanted to do something nice.”

“We like lemon squares!” James grinned, excitedly looking at the pan. “Mama, do you think that Mister Steve likes them?”

Maria raised an eyebrow, looking down at James with sudden interest. “Mister Steve?”

Why was she blushing? It’s not like she did anything wrong! Hell, she didn’t even know them!

The smile that grew on Pepper’s mouth was a little uncanny. She looked way too happy about Steve’s mention. “You know Steve Rogers?”

Was that his name?

“My neighbour?”

Maria nodded, a mischievous look overtaking her features.

“Uh, kinda? He was helping me with some boxes.”

“He’s my friend,” James piped up, his grin – if possible – widening.

They didn’t say anything else about it and for that Natasha was grateful. It’s not that she didn’t like the man. It’s just that her son was way too excited about the man and they didn’t even know him!

“Well,” Pepper cleared her throat, “if you ever wanna come by and chat, we have a bit of a girl’s lunch on Saturdays that you can come to! It’s nice having another person in the neighbourhood.”

“Thank you,” she replied earnestly, “for the lemon squares and coming to say hi.”

“Of course! I live in the third house down.”

“You won’t miss it,” Maria added, “the one with the ridiculously big gates.” Pepper nudged her, rolling her eyes. “We hope you like it here at Marvel. We’ll see you around!”

“Bye!” James waved and then ran to the living room.

As Pepper and Maria walked down the driveway, she overheard a bit of their conversation.

“She’s really pretty,” Pepper smiled. “Seems nice.”

“I’m glad she has a son. Riley finally has someone to play with.”

Pepper, though, seemed to completely ignore what Maria said. “Should we tell her that Steve…”

Natasha frowned, stepping closer to the door to try and hear the rest of the conversation, but they were already crossing the street.

What did Pepper want to tell her?! That Steve was crazy?! That she should stay away from him?! That –

God, she needed a drink.

~*~

When Clint offered to help her move in, she had declined because she thought it was going to be easier. She had forgotten just how many things she had in those boxes. She also didn’t take into account that even though her son was extremely well behaved for a boy his age, he would get bored and start roaming the house or asking a plethora of questions – that by the seventh unpacked box, just sounded like static noise in the background.

Natasha loved him, he was the centre of her universe, but by the tenth unpacked box of bathroom toiletries, she was ready to lock him in the closet just so she could get a second of silence. The second the thought entered her mind, she immediately felt guilty and tried to trick James into silence.

She resorted to an emergency she always said she would leave for last; electronics. She handed him her iPhone and sighed when he started watching YouTube videos. She sat quietly with her back against the bathtub as she watched and listened to the video. It was something to do with a Spider-Man figure and a Barbie doll.

It wasn’t that Natasha didn’t like technology, she just didn’t want her son to be so dependent on it that he didn’t bother to play with toys. She didn’t understand how kids were more entertained watching other people play with toys rather than playing _with_ the toys. She didn’t have an entire bin full of toys for James to ignore.

Thankfully, though, five videos later, James was struggling to keep his eyes opened. They were fluttering shut and his head was swaying back and forth until eventually, it was too much, and he caved in.

She had just finished setting up the master bathroom, which meant that from the second floor she just had to finish his bedroom. Somehow that felt better than it should’ve. She still had to empty the boxes for the living room and finish decorating, but at 9:30 at night, she felt victorious considering all she had to do.

When she bent down to take James to bed, he quickly opened his eyes and asked for chocolate milk. She was going to let him sleep without any bothers, but since he got up…

“Let’s take a shower first and then I’ll get you Choco milk, okay?”

He nodded, rubbing his knuckles against his eyes tiredly. “Okay, mama.”

While he scrubbed his little arms with soap and wore a rather comical, concentrated expression on his face, Natasha pulled out his pyjamas and his red _Cars_ towel. Just last year he became obsessed with Lightning McQueen, anytime they drove by a red car, he would howl “Ki-chow!” At first, it was cute, but after a while, it got a little annoying – especially when she found herself Ki-chow-ing when James wasn’t around.

She always thought parents were exaggerating when they said their lives consisted of kid TV shows and their theme songs, but as James got older, she realised just how serious they were being. Needless to say, she absolutely abhorred _Dora the Explorer._ She could handle _Paw Patrol_ and even found herself excited for _The Backyardigans_ , but she swore that Dora was placed on Earth to make her mornings miserable.

“Ready for bed?” James nodded, hung his towel over the chair and rushed to the bed.

Natasha smiled, watching as he snuggled into her pillows and waited for his sippy cup. She sat next to him and leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to his forehead. He pulled away from his sippy cup to kiss her. “Love you, mama.”

“Love you too, baby.” He burrowed his face against the pillows and held her hand to his cheek so she could continue caressing him.

After a few strokes, his eyes began to cross, and his breathing began to even out. His hand slowly slid from hers and she kissed his forehead again before starting her bath. While the tub filled, she tiptoed down to the kitchen to grab a bottle of sweet red wine and a glass.

She desperately needed a drink.

The last time she moved things hadn’t been so hectic. Granted, the last time she moved, she didn’t have a truckload of boxes and another on the way. Thankfully the second truck had the bigger pieces of furniture for the living room.

Coulson had only given her a week off to move. She hadn’t taken her vacation for the year and he encouraged her to use that week to spend time with her son and getting used to the new neighbourhood.

A satisfied sigh rolled past her lips as she entered the warm soapy water and held her wine glass with a steady hand. She leaned against the wall and closed the faucet with her foot. For a few minutes, she just sat and basked in the warmth of the water.

The last time she ever did something like that, she was still pregnant. She definitely deserved this pampering bath after the day she had. While she took a sip from her wine, she reached over to grab her phone and scrolled through Facebook for a few minutes.

While she was in the middle of a video, Laura’s picture appeared on the screen. Any other time, she would’ve been annoyed, but the video was quite boring, and she missed her friend dearly.

“Hey!”

Laura laughed. “That was fast.”

“Mm,” she hummed, “was watching a video when you called. Is Clint home?”

She sighed, the distress obvious in her voice. “No. Fury called to tell me they’ll be coming late tonight.”

“Oh,” she gnawed on her bottom lip, trying not to add to Laura’s worry by blurting out stupid _what ifs_.

“Yeah.” Noise rustled in the background for a few seconds before she cleared her throat. “How’s the move? You finally gonna let me come over and help?”

“It’s been fine,” Natasha mused, raising her foot to watch the soap slide down her ankle. “Met some neighbours.”

She knew the reason for this call was to distract her from Clint’s absence. And she was going to fully deliver, even if she had to talk about the strange events of the day.

Part of her felt guilty that she had moved out when Clint was spending late nights at the office, she didn’t want to leave Laura and the kids alone, but she had actually been the one to push her to take Fury’s offer. _I’ll kick you out myself if you don’t say yes!_ Those had been her exact words with a few more expletives thrown here and there.

“Oh?” She sounded intrigued.

“Mm,” Natasha nodded to herself, “they seemed nice. They think I’m Fury’s daughter.”

Laura laughed. “That’s a good thing! They know what he can do and will keep their distance if they’re trying anything fishy.”

“True!” She added, “They brought lemon squares. It was nice. I haven’t tried them yet, so I’ll let you know how that goes later.”

“What about James? How’s he adjusting?”

Natasha took a sip of the wine and licked her lips before answering. “He likes it.” She hesitated before deciding to tell her about her near heart-attack experience. “Gave me a scare today.”

“James?” She sounded doubtful. “He gave _you_ a scare? What could he have possibly done?” That was the spoiling aunt in her talking.

Before she kept rambling, Natasha cleared her throat and sat forward to place the wine glass on the floor. “He left the house without telling me. I thought he went to walk around the woods, but he was just with a neighbour.”

That was a good place to stop that story. She didn’t see how talking about Steve was relevant to James scaring her and she really hoped that Laura didn’t ask more questions.

“Seriously?” Disappointment filled her voice. “You must’ve been freaking out. Did your neighbour say anything? Why was James there?”

“He didn’t say much. Just that James was a nice kid and that he didn’t mind.” She sighed tiredly and almost embarrassed, “And then he asked Steve to help me move some boxes.”

“Did you let him?”

“Well I didn’t really have a choice,” she scoffed, “James grabbed him and took him to the truck. I swear that boy is never on my side.”

Laura let out a loud, contagious laugh. “I can just imagine the look on your face.”

 _“Mom?”_ Cooper asked in the background. His voice was muffled by something. “ _Can I stay up and wait for dad_?”

She sighed. “Your dad is coming home late tonight, buddy.”

“ _But I want to tell him how I beat the game!_ ”

“You can tell me,” Laura cleared her throat, “let me say bye to Auntie Nat and then I’ll be in your room.”

He grumbled something in return, and she sighed into the phone. “I hate when he works late. Gonna give Fury an earful for this. Alright,” she sighed, “I gotta go. We’ll talk later?”

“Yeah! Hey, is Clint still coming tomorrow to help me unload the couches?”

“Yep. Don’t worry, I’ll be there to stop James in case he wants to go to your neighbour’s.”

She rolled her eyes but laughed. “Oh shush, bye!”

“Night, Nat,” Laura chuckled before ending the call.

Natasha finished drinking her glass of wine and spent a few more minutes relaxing. She would definitely need to get a good night’s rest to deal with tomorrow.


	4. T H E →  B A R T O N S →  A N D →  L E M O N A D E

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint & Laura help Natasha with the living room furniture and she learns a little more about her hot neighbour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last time I updated, we found out that James' dad died a few months after James was born and that the neighbours wanted to tell Nat a secret about Steve. That secret is sorta answered in this chapter.

When Natasha woke up, the clock on her nightstand read 3:37 am.

Her throat felt like a gigantic cotton swab had been shoved around her mouth while she slept. She was bleary-eyed, and James had kicked her back hard enough to wake her. He murmured something in his sleep and rolled away from her, burrowing his head further into the pillows.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes and slowly sat up. For a few seconds, she just sat there, holding onto the edge of the bed while she contemplated leaving the warmth of her bed or getting some water. Her thirst won over and she forced herself out the bed with a small groan.

She walked down the stairs blindly, just leaning against the wall for guidance. By the time she reached the last step, she was a little more awake. Enough, at least, to notice that every house in the neighbourhood was pitch black except for Steve’s.

Sure, some of the houses a little further down had solar powered sidewalk lamps, but the _inside_ of the houses was dark, which meant, that like her, Steve was awake.

After pouring herself a glass of water, she walked towards the living room, carefully walking around James’ toys, and peered out the side window. She had a clear view of Steve’s house and maybe it was the time or her brain still trying to reel in from lack of sleep, but she felt _bad_.

It was strange, she didn’t really have a reason to feel bad for him. She didn’t _know_ him; it was stupid to feel bad for someone she didn’t know, _without_ reason.

Although, he was awake at a really early hour – or maybe he fell asleep with the light on, which, in that case, she felt bad for him for the electric bill that would come his way.

His lights suddenly went out, darkening the house completely, and after a few seconds, his front door opened. Steve walked out, rubbing his hand down his face tiredly and walked around the house to head to the trail behind. His pace began to quicken into a jog and then he ran until Natasha couldn’t see him anymore.

Now she _really_ felt bad for him.

People didn’t just run at 4 am without dealing with some shit in their life.

She knew because Clint used to do it all the time. He would wake up at the crack ass of dawn, pour himself a glass of water and run down the farm until he was drenched in sweat and Laura was calling him for breakfast.

When she asked, he simply said that it was his way of dealing with the shit he saw at work.

And, now she felt guilty. It wasn’t like her to judge someone harshly without _reason_. Steve had been kind and respectful and she was sure that Fury wouldn’t live to someone dangerous, but – what _if_?

She was a mom! That’s what they did, they questioned things and their minds went to the worst assumptions to keep their kids safe.

God, that glass of wine before bed did _nothing_ to help her sleep.

She sighed, trying to stop tormenting herself with _what ifs_ and placed her cup in the sink. She’d wash it tomorrow and she’d stop making stupid assumptions about her neighbour.

~*~

The second time she woke up, the sun was out – right in her face. She groaned, turning away from the sunshine peeking in through the windows and tried to burrow her head in the pillows.

It didn’t work so much.

A few seconds later, James smacked his hand unto the back of her head when he was stretching, and it stung enough to completely wake her.

“I’m so sorry, mama!” He whimpered, crawling to her side to check on her.

“It’s okay, J,” she mumbled, rubbing the spot and turned to him slowly. She smiled and sighed. She really was tired, but the glint in her son’s eyes was bright enough to tell her that that was enough sleep for the day. “Morning, honey.”

“Mornin’, mama.” His little fingers combed through her hair gently, trying to soothe the pain from his little slap. He really should be rubbing her stomach from kicking it all night. After Clint brought the living room boxes in, she was going to beg him to help her set James’ bed up.

If she spent another night sharing a bed with him, she’d have to check herself into the hospital. She was definitely going to sign him up for karate classes.

“Are you hungry?”

He nodded his head, rubbing his fingers against his eyes and caused a few eye-boogers to smear across his cheek. Natasha reached over, rubbing it away and he grinned at her cutely. “Should we make waffles?”

She laughed softly. Ever since Fury bought him a waffle iron shaped like a Minion from _Despicable Me_ , the boy became obsessed with waffles. For someone that chastised kids for playing with their food, Fury sure gave James reason to _play_ with it.

“We can make waffles.” She sat up. “But first, we have to brush our teeth and wash our faces.”

James perked up, immediately kicking the sheets off his legs and ran to the bathroom. She followed him shortly after because if she stayed in bed any longer, she wouldn’t do anything productive for the day.

While she mixed the batter, James sat on the counter, swinging his legs back and forth as he patiently watched and gave commentary. He touched the rim of the waffle maker and quickly pulled back. “It’s ready, mama.”

“Thank you, baby.”

“Be careful,” he spoke wistfully and looked as she sprayed cooking spray on the machine. “It’s hot.”

Natasha smiled. “It is.” He was so caring and sweet. Moments like those reminded her that she was doing a good job as a single mother. That maybe she wasn’t failing like she thought she was. Laura and Clint often told her what a great mom she was, but this was different.

It was one thing to know and one thing to _feel_ it.

James just did that, he brought out the best in her and she loved him dearly for it.

“Wanna add chocolate chips?”

His eyes brightened and he nodded excitedly. “Can I add them, mama?”

“Yeah,” she grabbed him from the counter to grab the chocolate chips and then helped him uncap the container. “Slowly,” she murmured as he gently shook the chocolate chips into the batter.

“Can I eat one?”

She nodded and gave him two chips before putting them away. After mixing the chocolate chips in, she poured them in the waffle maker and tried to clean up the dishes while James spun in place.

He counted up to ten seconds before his numbers didn’t make sense. “Twenty-two, fifty, twelve…”

“You’re doing great, buddy.”

She hated _Dora the Explorer_ , but she had to admit that the cartoon really helped James learn some numbers. She tried her best to keep up with the things he learned in preschool, but it seemed that during the summer the only thing James retained was nap and snack time.

Once they were done eating, James sat on the floor by the archway of the kitchen while she cleaned. He was playing with his toys, muttering under his breath whatever story his mind was making up for the toys to play along for the day.

Natasha hummed under her breath while she washed the dishes and placed them in the drying rack. For not sleeping that much, she was in a relatively good mood this morning. Maybe it was knowing that Clint would bring the living room furniture and she’d be one step closer to finishing the hectic move.

She had a few days left before she had to go back to work and she really wanted to spend them relaxing with James. She had two weeks left with him before he had to go back to school.

There was a part of her that was excited for him to go back because even though he seemed to forget everything he learned the moment summer started, he genuinely liked going to school. He loved bringing her his latest class drawings and teaching her whatever song the teacher taught them. Every day, during the past school year, he sang _Itsy Bitsy Spider_ like a personal hymn and, yes, it drove her crazy, but seeing him so happy made it all worth it.

The other part was going to miss calling him on her breaks at work. Having Laura babysit him while she worked didn’t just help her with working and being a single mom, it helped her stay sane at work and probably spoiled her a little too much.

Natasha heard the U-Haul truck pulling up, just as she finished vacuuming the living room. James had helped her by picking up all of his toys and throwing them in a box while telling her his favourite features on them.

“Come on,” she held her hand out to him, “let’s say hi to Auntie Laura and Uncle Clint.”

Laura slowly stepped down from the truck, holding onto the side of the door with one hand and keeping her other on her bump.

“Auntie Laura!” James squealed and took off.

She grinned at him, opening her arms and he managed to slow down before running her over. “Hi, baby! How are you?”

He pressed a hard kiss to her cheek and then wriggled out of her embrace to say hi to Peanut. “Hi, Peanut!” It took all of her not to melt when he kissed Laura’s belly. His voice was so tender and sweet that it made her consider giving him a little sibling.

The thought quickly went away because, in order to do that, she would need to meet a willing man and that seemed to be lacking in New York.

“Where’s my hug, champ?” Clint walked from around the truck with his arms ready for an embrace.

“Uncle Clint!” He took off, this time not slowing down.

Clint picked him up and let out a groan. “You’re getting heavy.”

James laughed. “Where’s Coop?”

“He’s at summer camp.”

Laura gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hey.”

“Peanut finally let you out of the bathroom?”

She groaned, remembering the horrible week she had. She couldn’t even smell food without throwing up. Needless to say, she was ready for the next two months to go by. “Peanut’s finally behaving.”

Clint and Laura wanted the gender of their second child to be a surprise, so until she (Natasha wanted to have a little niece) was born, she would be known as Peanut. Clint wanted another boy – he said he “wasn’t ready for the drama of a little girl.”

“Hey there, stranger,” Clint placed James on the floor and pulled Natasha in for a hug.

“Stranger?” She laughed. “You’re the one that doesn’t answer my calls!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waved her comment away. “Let’s get those boxes out so I can test the couch out.”

They took out the smaller sets first. Clint had hurt his back when a suspect pushed him down a flight of stairs and, though, it hadn’t caused major problems, the doctor said he should take it easy. Asking him to help her with the couch was probably not a good idea…

James and Laura sat out on the lawn, laying on a blanket as they watched the clouds and enjoyed the cool shade.

“You sure you have it, Nat?” Clint grunted, tightening his grip on the box. He couldn’t see her, but the couch was heavy, and she was a tiny little thing. She was probably going to break something if he let the box slide to her. He should’ve been on the other side, carrying most of the weight, but she was stubborn and forced him to stay inside the truck in case he’d hurt his back.

Was she sure she had a good grip on the box?

No.

Was she going to ignore the way the box was slipping from under her fingertips and use her knee to help her?

Yes.

Was she going to end up in the hospital?

Probably.

“Yeah,” she groaned, “I have it. Just keep push-”

Her foot slipped on the ramp and the couch slipped from her grip. In a final (and, quite frankly, _dumb_ ) attempt to keep a handle on things, she tried to grab it and the couch fell on her hand.

The string of curses that followed afterwards were all, thankfully, in Russian.

“Mama?” James sat up, startled by her cry and quickly rushed over. “Are you okay, mama?”

Her face was as red as her hair used to be. She held onto her hand, squeezing it in a vain attempt to alleviate the pain. At least she didn’t break anything, but _fuck_ did it hurt. Her eyes watered and she inhaled sharply. “I’m okay, baby.”

He frowned, looking at her hand and pressed a sweet kiss to it.

“Are you alright?” Clint walked around, trying to push the couch back in the truck. “What happened?”

“Stupid ramp,” she muttered. “I just slipped. Give me a second and then we can pull it out.”

He narrowed his eyes, shaking his head. “I told you, you were going to get hurt. We should’ve asked someone for help.”

“Who?!” She didn’t mean to snap at him, but she was in pain. And thankfully, Clint seemed to understand. “I don’t really know anyone except you and Laura and Fury is away for work!”

“Mister Steve!” James perked up and before she could say or realise what was happening, her son was running down the sidewalk and to their neighbour’s house.

“James!”

“Mister Steve?” Clint frowned. “Where’s he going?”

Natasha sighed, resigned and still in pain. “He’s our neighbour. He helped me with a few boxes yesterday.”

Laura walked toward them and took her red – now pink – hand. “Does it hurt?”

“Just a little,” she muttered, wiping a bead of sweat that was sliding down her cheek, away. “I’ll be fine once I ice it.”

“Ay, Nat,” Laura shook her head, like a total disappointed mom. “I’ll go get you some ice.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, but Laura was already walking up to the house.

A few seconds later, James walked out of the garage, hand-in-hand with Steve. They were talking, well James was talking, and Steve was looking down at him attentively, like whatever he was saying was the most important thing he’d ever heard.

“Mama, Mister Steve said he can help.” His voice sounded final like he wouldn’t accept Nat’s “leave the busy man alone” speech.

“He said you hurt your hand.” Steve glanced down at her hand. “Are you alright?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She turned to look at James. “Honey, what did I tell you about running away?”

“But mama,” he scowled, “you were _hurt_.”

“Here’s the ice,” Laura handed her a Ziploc bag with a few napkins wrapped around it. She raised an eyebrow at Natasha, eyeing Steve like she was trying to telepathically ask who he was.

“Guys, this is Steve, my neighbour.” She pointed behind her. “Steve, these are my best friends, Clint and his wife, Laura.”

“Nice to meet you,” he shook their hands firmly.

Laura pulled her away while Steve and Clint decided how to take the couch out. They walked up to the kitchen while James made comments about how cool Steve was for teaching him how to turn a wrench.

Maybe it was just her, but Laura was looking at her like she was accusing her of keeping a secret, of betraying her.

“What?!” Natasha finally snapped. At least her hand wasn’t hurting anymore. It had felt like her fingers were pulsing in sync with her heart.

“Nothing,” she replied nonchalantly.

Natasha rolled her eyes and kept adding sugar to the lemonade she was stirring. It was hot as hell outside and she was not about to let Steve do something else for her without giving him something in return. She’d pay him, too.

Laura sighed, mumbling to herself until she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Oh my god, what is it!?”

She laughed. “Nothing!” Natasha glared at her. “It’s just – when you mentioned your neighbour, you forgot to mention how hot he is.”

“Laura.”

“I’m just saying!” Her grin widens slowly. “I was expecting a grouchy old man when James kept calling him _Mister Steve_. But, wow, the man is-”

“I’m telling Clint,” she mutters, trying to ignore her suggestive glances.

It’s not like Laura was lying – and Natasha wasn’t _blind_. The man _was_ hot. He was wearing a white t-shirt today with a pair of dark jeans and – wow. It was front-cover-magazine-worthy. Especially when his arms flexed while he helped carry the box in.

The drool-worthy scene didn’t last long, though.

As soon as they moved the couch to the spot Natasha wanted, Steve went outside, and Clint followed. They seemed to click quickly, talking about god knows what like old reunited friends.

“Have you met him before?”

Natasha frowned, cleaning a few glass cups before pouring the lemonade in. “No. Why?”

Laura shrugged. “James looks like him.”

The look on Natasha’s face was enough to make Laura burst out laughing. It was a mix of annoyance, embarrassment and maybe a bit of incredulity.

She kept going, though. “His eyes? They’re the same shade of blue. He could easily pass off as James’ dad.”

“Laura-”

“His hair, too. It’s got those nice brown highlights-”

“Clint!” Natasha called out. “Clint, take your wife! She’s annoying me!”

Laura laughed, trying to shush her while grabbing her arm. “Stop! I’m joking! Well, not really, but-”

“CLINT!”

“Shhh!” Laura was giggling hysterically. “Okay, okay, let’s bring them the lemonade. I’ll promise to behave.”

“It’s not funny.”

“Never said I was joking.” Natasha stared at her sharply, which just made Laura giggle more. “Okay, okay, I did, but I was _half_ joking.” She sobered up, “It’s kinda creepy.”

“You know what’s creepy?” She placed the cups on the serving tray. “You making comments about my neighbour.”

Laura rolled her eyes, opening the door for her. “I was stating factual observations.”

She decided to ignore her because she really didn’t want to pinch her friends. Besides, she needed to concentrate on carrying the drinks and ignoring the little voice in the back of her head that agreed with Laura.

James _could_ pass off as Steve’s son, but that was purely coincidental. They _did_ say that there were 7 other people in the world that looked like you.

“I brought drinks,” Natasha announced, holding the tray up and turned to Steve, “I hope you like lemonade. Figured it could be a small payment for helping me move in.”

“No payment needed,” Steve shook his head but took the glass. “I don’t mind helping.”

“Tasha,” Clint took the other glass, “why didn’t you tell me you lived next to Captain America?!”

She raised an inquisitive eyebrow, handing James a bit of lemonade in his sippy cup. “Because I _just_ met him?” She didn’t mean to make her voice sound as harsh as it did, but Laura’s comments were still nagging her.

“Who’s that?” James walked toward Steve and wrapped his hand around his leg. The boy was way too comfortable with that man.

Steve didn’t seem to mind, though. He just ruffled James’ hair while drinking his lemonade. Seeing them so close and comfortable _really_ made Natasha feel a certain way. Jealous? Annoyed? _Concerned_?

Clint knelt down in front of James. “Captain America is your neighbour. He’s like a superhero, but cooler.” Steve chuckled but didn’t seem too comfortable with the praise. “He saved a lot of good men from the bad guys.”

“Really?” His eyes _sparkled_ as he looked up at Steve. “You’re a superhero, Mister Steve?”

“Well,” Steve rubbed the back of his neck, smiling bashfully, “I wouldn’t really say _that_.” His blush was growing, it started on the rim of his ears and it was spreading all over his face. It was almost adorable how timid he looked when he looked _that_ intimidating.

“The man’s a freakin’ beast,” Clint egged him on. It was like watching a little kid meet his favourite movie character.

“Clint,” Laura chastised, “honey, you’re making him uncomfortable.”

Clint, though, ignored his wife’s warning. Instead, he straightened up and took a few sips of his lemonade before talking. “Man, I remember Sar’nt telling us stories about you. Most of the guys in the unit were jealous, you know? You were our age, kicking ass and we stayed behind cleaning toilets.”

“I worked with really good men.” A flash of sadness flickered in his eyes and had Natasha not been ogling him the way she was, she wouldn’t have noticed. Okay, no, she wasn’t _ogling,_ she was _looking_ at him because that was the courteous thing to do when someone talked.

“You married yet, Cap?”

His blush went from a slight pink to a bright red. He really was adorable. “Ah, no.” He shook his head, running his fingers through his blond hair. James was still stuck to his leg. He had one arm wrapped around Steve’s leg and the other one holding his cup.

Natasha wanted to yank him away and apologise for how _comfortable_ James was, but Steve was acting like a strange little boy hanging onto his leg was the most natural thing.

“What?” Clint frowned. “Not even a girlfriend?”

Steve chuckled. “No.”

“Clint!” Laura pinched him and Natasha took a sip of her lemonade to hide her laugh when he yelped.

“What?!” Clint huffs. “His kids would be freaking legends!”

James looked up at Steve and slowly pouted. He dropped his hand from around Steve’s leg and hung his head.

“What’s wrong, bud?” Steve ruffled his hair and knelt to look at him at eye-level.

“You’re a superhero,” he mumbled sadly, “and you’re not my dad.”

The thing about kids was that they said whatever came to mind without regards to how embarrassing it would be to their mom. They gave no fucks and _that_ was dangerous because Natasha was currently choking on her drink.

Her face reddened as she coughed and prayed that the ground would swallow her hole.

“I’m sure your dad is a superhero.”

“I don’t have one,” James sagged his shoulders.

“See what you did?!” Laura hissed, jabbing her elbow into Clint’s side.

“Ow!” He stepped away from her and flinched under Natasha’s glare. “Well, it’s okay that he’s not your dad, J. Does Superman have a kid?” _Yes._

“No.”

“Does he have a best friend?”

James perked up. “Yes!” He turned to look at Steve. “Can I be your best friend, Mister Steve?”

“Of course, you can, bud!”

“Mama, I’m Mister Steve’s best friend!”

She smiled and cleared her throat, it still burned a little from her near-death experience. “That’s good, honey.”

“He’s Superman and I’m Batman!”

Just like that, James’ temporary sadness was gone. He grinned like he didn’t just say that Steve wasn’t his dad _and_ that he didn’t have a father.

Maybe she shouldn’t praise herself for being such a good mom after all.

“Well,” Steve was the first to break the silence, “I better get going. I have to buy a few parts for my Harley.” He smiled at Natasha sweetly. “Thank you for the lemonade, it was really good.”

“Welcome,” she smiled and took his cup.

“Let me help you with that,” Laura grabbed Clint’s cup and they walked back to the house.

Natasha tried her hardest to ignore the way Laura was looking at her. It was questioning and almost saddened. She didn’t need that look, not now when she just heard her son talk about being without father.

“You shouldn’t worry about what he said.”

It’s like she read her mind.

She scoffed, scrubbing the plates with a little more pressure.

“Nat,” Laura spoke softly.

“You heard him,” she gulped, “you heard how sad he sounded when he said he didn’t have a dad.”

“And you saw how quickly he forgot about that when Steve said they could be friends!”

The cup clanked loudly when it hit the sink. “That’s what worries me! Did you see how attached he is to Steve?! I mean, he wouldn’t even let his leg go! Laura, they _just_ met. He shouldn’t – he shouldn’t be that friendly to him!”

“Nat,” Laura tried again because she could see the panic rising in her friend’s eyes.

This is what she did. She tried to think about everything and all the possible outcomes, but instead of leaving the _what-ifs_ out of her mind, she focused on them and all the negative possibilities.

Self-preservation, she called it once. But they both knew it was more like self-sabotage.

“What if he’s a serial killer? A paedophile?” Laura gave her a look. “You never know!” She huffed in response, “It’s not like they go around carrying signs!” Natasha squeezed the edge of the sink. “I should’ve just stayed living with you guys.”

“You did not just say that you regret taking Fury’s house after I almost broke an arm helping you move in!” Clint shook his head, muttering under his breath as he carried James to the bathroom down the hall.

“That’s not what I said!” She called back and turned to look at Laura. “It’s not! I just…I’m scared that James is going to get attached to a stranger and get hurt. I’m not being… _crazy_.”

“Never said you were,” Laura replied. She stepped closer to Natasha and pulled her in for a hug. “Are you sure you’re not just panicking a little bit about getting the things you want? This was your dream, Nat. You wanted a house for you and James and now that you have it, you keep trying to find ways to…I don’t know, talk yourself out of it?”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “What does that have to do with me being worried about Steve and James, Dr Phil?”

“Well,” Laura leaned forward, “you’re projecting that fear unto James’ friendship with the hot neighbour.”

Her cheeks suddenly felt hot. “Don’t call him that.”

“Factual observations,” she countered in a sing-song voice.

Clint walked back into the kitchen with James in tow. “So, what’s this about you wanting to move again?”

James frowned. “Mama, we can’t move! I like living here!”

She glared at Clint and her expression softened when she looked down at James. “We’re not moving, sweetheart.”

“Good,” he nodded his head as he walked to the living room, “I like Mister Steve.”

Jesus Christ, there we go again.

“Clint, can you ask Fury to run a background check on the neighbour?”

Clint burst out laughing. “Running a background on Captain America? That’s funny, babe.” Laura stared at him seriously, raising her eyebrow like she was seconds from slapping the laughter out of his mouth. “Wait, seriously? Why?”

“Because I asked nicely?”

He opened his mouth, but she added. “Nat’s worried about sleeping with him if he turns out psycho.”

“Laura!”

His smile morphed into a look of disgust. “Oh, come on, L! Nat’s like my little sister. That’s gross!”

“What? You can fanboy over Captain America, but Nat can’t want to sleep with him?”

“My son is in the other room!” Natasha hissed.

“Okay, okay,” Clint held his hands up in surrender, “I’ll ask Fury. Now let’s go finish assembling James’ room before my wife kills me.”

And just like that, Nat’s temporary panic disappeared.

Like mother, like son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that lately, Steve seems to be making cameos only, but the next chapter will have a bit more interaction between Steve & Natasha. If things don't make sense, feel free to point them out because I could've messed shit up lol xx


	5. L E T' S →  B E →  F R I E N D S

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha learns a little bit about why everyone thinks Steve is a great man.

There was something almost magical about the first sip of coffee in the morning. Although, she was sure that pretentious coffee drinkers would call her coffee “milk with sugar” for it not being straight up black.

It seemed to balance out her soul, like the ying to the yang. It was sweet enough to make her see the world through colours. She now had the strength to deal with whatever crap the world wanted to throw at her.

The birds were chirping, and the sun was out shining brightly, the sky was a beautiful blue – coffee really did make her world feel wonderful in the morning.

After she drank her coffee, she began to make breakfast for James. Last night had been the first night he slept in his room and while she was worried, he’d be scared of being alone, she was grateful that he didn’t wake up in her bed that morning.

They were making progress _and_ she wasn’t being kicked!

While she was stirring the oatmeal in the pan, her phone began to buzz on the counter. She smiled at the caller ID and quickly answered.

“Did hell freeze over?”

She could practically _hear_ Fury rolling his eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” he laughed mockingly, “very funny.”

“It is!” Natasha cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear while she added a bit of milk to the mixture. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“What? Can’t I call to check in on you?”

She laughed because the fact that he sounded offended was enough to tell her that this call had a hidden motive. “You can.”

“So,” he huffed, “how are you? How’s James? How are you liking the house?”

“I’m great and it’s wonderful,” she smiled to herself because she was extremely grateful. “The neighbours are really nice, and the neighbourhood is really quiet. James loves it, too. I’m thinking of taking him on a walk around the trail after breakfast.”

“And, how’s the move going? Did Clint help you with everything?”

“Yeah. He came over to help me yesterday with the living room furniture. We finished setting up James’ room too.”

Nick was asking a lot of questions, which meant that he was probably circling a topic he wasn’t sure how to bring up. Clint had said it was strange when she made a comment about it because at work he was as blunt as they came. He just had a soft spot for her.

But since he was circling this topic so much, it would probably bother her some.

After a few seconds of silence, he cleared his throat and said, “I talked to him yesterday.”

“To Clint?”

“Yeah. He was asking me for a favour.”

“Oh?”

Why did she have a suspicion that it had to do with what Laura had said?

“He told me that Steve Rogers was helping you with a few boxes.”

Ah, there it was.

Natasha hummed in acknowledgement. “He was.”

She wasn’t going to give him anything more until he finally got out what the call was really for. She knew it had to do with what Laura had asked Clint to do yesterday, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the results.

Maybe Steve was a terrible man and Fury was trying to warn her without scaring her.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” He grumbled and she heard him flipping a few pages in the background. “He told me to do a background check on Rogers. Something about Laura wanting to know who you lived next to.”

“What’d you find?”

“I knew Rogers when I lived there. He’s a nice young man; clean record.” She wanted to laugh at his tone of voice. It sounded like it was physically hurting him to compliment him. “When I hurt my arm, he would mow my lawn and take my trash out.”

“That’s nice.”

“He’s a good man,” he grunted softly.

“So, why are you telling me this?”

Fury sighed. “I just…if there’s anyone that I would be comfortable with you…you know…it would be with him.”

She laughed. “What?”

“Come on, Romanoff,” he groaned, “don’t make me say it. Just know he’s a good man. Served two tours and was an exemplary soldier. If…Clint said…just know that out of all the men you’ve talked to, Steve Rogers is someone I can…someone you would be safe with.”

Had it been coming from anyone else, she would be offended and even bothered that they went to the extent to pry into her personal life. But she understood why Fury did it and she, quite frankly, was grateful that she had confirmation that Steve wasn’t a creep.

“Thank you, Fury.”

“No problem, kid.” He was quiet for a bit and then chuckled softly, “The man is a pain in the ass. Stubborn as hell. He was arrested at 17 for getting in a fight with some idiots that were picking on a kid.”

That made her smile. “Thought you said he had a clean record?”

“Just letting you know what you’d be getting into. He broke his arm once, trying to get a cat out of a tree for a few kids in the park. He’s a reckless idiot, but he’s a good man.”

Before she could respond, James walked into the kitchen and dragged his feet toward her. He was rubbing his knuckle against his eye and dragged his galaxy-themed blanket behind him.

“Mama?”

“Mornin’, buddy. How’d you sleep?”

He mumbled something in response and hugged her legs tightly. His face burrowed against her knees and she ran her fingers through his messy hair.

“Do you want to eat?”

He nodded his head but didn’t say anything.

“Wanna talk to _ded_?”

He perked up at that. “He’s here?”

“No, buddy, but he’s on the phone.” She held it out for him and grinned when he excitedly spoke to Fury.

While James and Fury talked about James’ new room and – of course, Mister Steve – Natasha set his plate.

She was happy to say that the only healthy thing James didn’t eat was asparagus and that’s because she didn’t like it either. He loved oatmeal, especially with fruit and he went crazy for baby carrots. That was something he definitely didn’t pick up from her.

James was walking around the island kitchen counter, looking down at his feet as he talked to Nick and Natasha couldn’t help but laugh at how grown he tried to sound. When he was done, he handed her the phone and climbed up on the seat.

“Mama, _ded_ said to be nice to Mister Steve.”

“Oh, did he now?”

“Yup,” he popped his lips and began to eat, swinging his feet back and forth under the chair. She really wondered why everyone seemed so obsessed with the man. “And he said to buy me ice cream.”

She laughed at that. “We can get ice cream later. I have to finish cleaning the downstairs bathroom.” He enthusiastically ate his oatmeal, like it was the tastiest thing he’s ever had, and she smiled. “After I finish, do you wanna take a walk around the trail?”

He nodded his face quickly, not speaking right away because his cheeks were full. He looked like a tiny chipmunk.

“Alright, well eat up and after I finish, we can go.”

~*~

This time she didn’t need coffee to see how beautiful the day was. Marvel Hilltops was a literal dream come true. The grounds were kept neat and the flowers around them just seemed to smell sweeter.

There were a few people biking down the trail, but for the most part, everything was quiet and serene. The sun was shining brightly, but not too much that the temperature was unbearable and the cool breeze passing through the trees was tempting enough to put a hammock outside and sleep.

As they walked down the trail, James chased a few butterflies and stopped to sniff flowers. He was in love with the colourful gardens and the pretty birds that chirped up on the trees.

“Mama, do baby birds eat worms too?" James peered up at the small birds on the tree but kept his fingers securely wrapped around hers.

 

"Well, the mama bird chews the food and then gives it to them."

 

He crinkled his nose and shook his head. "I don’t want you to chew my food."

 

She laughed at that. "I won’t chew your food, J."

 

He continued gazing at everything in absolute awe, just taking their surroundings in with inquisitive eyes. She loved watching his little face as he tried to figure out the machinations of the world. He was fascinated by everything and loved to explore.

 

He was her brave little ray of sunshine. 

 

As they walked further down the trail, James kept asking questions.

 

"Why do mosquito bites hurt?"

 

"Why does that bird chirp louder than the others?"

 

"Why is that rock green?"

 

She didn’t have the answers to all of his questions, but he was thankfully satisfied with the answers she  _was_  able to give him. 

 

They reached the gazebo by the pond and Natasha was so awestruck by the beauty of that specific picturesque spot that she didn’t realise what James was gushing on about. One second, he was gripping her hand, and the next he was sprinting down the trail.

 

“J!” Natasha called after him, but he just kept running.

 

"Mister Steve!" 

 

She hadn’t even noticed that Steve was sitting in front of the pond. He was on the bench with his back to them and James was  _still_ able to recognise him.

 

Steve turned to look at him and smiled. “Hey, buddy!”

 

James was so excited that he wasn’t paying attention to his footing. He tripped and let out a grunt when he landed on his knees. 

 

Steve was closer, so he quickly scooped him into his arms and checked him. “You alright, bud?”

 

His face was bright red, and a few tears threatened to spill past his eyes, but he just nodded and sniffled once.

 

"Yeah." He murmured something else, brushing the pieces of grass off his knees and pouted his lip as he tried his hardest not to cry.

 

"J," Natasha sighed, kneeling in front of him to check his little legs, "this is why you have to be careful when you run, sweetheart."

 

James nods, his bottom lip twitching a bit and he squirmed out of Steve’s lap to give her a hug. "I’m okay, mama. It was just a little scratch."

 

That made her smile. 

 

He turned to look at Steve and down at the sketchbook beside him. "What’s that, Mister Steve?"

 

"It’s a sketchbook," he picked it up and flipped to the page he was drawing on, "I draw on it."

 

James gasped, like it was the most amazing thing he’s ever seen and whispered, "Can you teach me how to draw?"

 

Natasha stood by, not really knowing what to do with herself but stand and watch their interaction. She could’ve sat next to Steve on the bench, but James scurried up next to him to listen to the stories Steve told about each drawing.

 

Most of them – according to him – were unfinished sketches and "not all that good." She wasn’t paying attention to the details of the sketches, she didn’t want to pry even though he glanced up at her a few times to include her in the conversation, but from the few that she actually saw, she could tell he was lying.

 

She was no art connoisseur, but the man had talent. 

 

"Here," Steve offered him his notebook, "why don’t you look for something to draw and then you can tell me if you like drawing?"

 

James straightened up, turning to look at her with bright eyes. "Mama, I’m going to draw like Mister Steve!"

 

Steve laughed quietly and Natasha smiled at them. "What will you draw?"

 

"Mm," James pursed his lips and glanced around, "the little house there." He pointed to the gazebo and stood up from the bench. 

 

"Stay where I can see you."

 

He nodded and walked a few feet toward the gazebo and sat on the grass. The image of him bent over the sketchbook was adorable, it made her heart swell with pride that  _she_ had raised such an intelligent little boy.

 

"May I?" She turned to sit on the bench and Steve quickly nodded.

 

"Of course!"

 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching James as he kept attempting to draw the gazebo.

 

"You don’t have to teach him," Natasha began. "I’m sure he’ll forget about it when we go home."

 

"I don’t mind," Steve turns to look at her with solemnity in his eyes. Like teaching James how to draw would be something he’d actually enjoy.

 

The intensity in his stare made her feel a little conscious and so, she turned back to James and tried to ignore the little voice in the back of her head that told her to run.

 

She wasn’t  _blind_ and she wasn’t  _stupid_. She knew that men like Steve were dangerous. What with their sweet smiles and charming personalities; they’d twirl anyone around their finger.

 

She’d been single so long that she was actually afraid that she’d do something stupid and grow a crush on the guy!

 

"Can I..." Steve trailed off, frowning to himself but began again, “can I say something?”

 

Natasha nodded.

 

"You’re going to think I’m crazy," he chuckled to himself, a bittersweet smile growing on his lips. "I..." he cleared his throat, "you know how Clint said that I was in the military?"

 

"Yeah."

 

“Well, my best friend served with me. His name was James – we called him Bucky – and, uh, he reminds me of him a lot. How brave he is and smart, it’s like...it’s like getting to see Bucky all over again."

 

The pain in his voice made her heart stutter in her chest. They didn’t know each other but he just revealed something that was obviously close to his heart and she didn’t really know how to respond, so she stayed quiet and listened.

 

“He was killed in action.” His voice trembled a little and he slid his hands up and down his pants. "We were on different missions and there was nothing I could have really done. I  _know_  that, but I still think about how I  _should_ have been there. I could have saved him. That’s…” His eyes teared up and he breathed out loudly, “that’s what I was known for, you know? Saving people.”

 

Steve looked down at his hands, squeezing them into fists and then swallowed back all the pent-up emotions he was feeling. He didn’t know her, and he really didn’t want to burden her with his issues, but he also wanted to explain why his sudden friendship with her son was so meaningful to him.

 

She didn’t know that the day James skipped into his garage was a particularly bad day for him. He was missing his family a lot. When he lost his parents, Bucky had been there for him, he’d consoled him and helped him get up to keep fighting.

 

Now he didn’t have his parents or Bucky. Yeah, he had new friends and he cherished them, but the memory of Bucky’s body…of what they had done to him, it would haunt him the rest of his life.

 

She didn’t know that the moment James began to ask him questions and charm his way into his life for a few seconds, he’d practically saved him. And, he wasn’t quite sure how to bring that up, how to even say it out loud and put that burden on a five-year-old.

 

“For a while,” he spoke softly, almost distractedly, “I really hated being called ‘Captain America.’ Everyone just talked about how many men I had saved and how great I was, but I…I couldn’t even save my best friend.”

 

Natasha didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know what to say because she felt that there were no words that could actually justify what he was feeling. So, she reached over and squeezed his hand.

 

That seemed to snap him out of whatever he was thinking, and he looked down at her hand. They were small and _soft_ , and she was _warm_.

 

“So,” he cleared his throat and straightened his back, sitting up, “talking to James isn’t a burden or bothersome to me. It’s like a breath of fresh air.”

 

“He really likes you,” she murmurs, turning to look back at James, “hasn’t even known you that long and he’s talked about you to everyone that’s willing to listen.”

 

“He’s a great little kid,” Steve smiled and then turned to him, “I’m sorry, by the way. I shouldn’t have…you didn’t have to listen to all of that. I just wanted you to know, to _assure_ you, that if James sees me as a friend, I see him that way too.”

 

“Well,” she grinned, squeezing his hand again, “you’re my son’s friend, so you’re my friend, too and friends listen to each other.”

 

He glanced down at their hands and felt the rim of his ears warming up a little. He just hoped that his face didn’t look as embarrassed as he felt. It had been quite some time since he’d talk to such an attractive woman and he kind of felt…out of his league.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Natasha nodded and slowly pulled her hand back. So much for not falling for his charm. Although, just because they were friends didn’t mean that they’d cross that line. She could be his friend, it seemed that they were both in need of that.

 

She only had Clint & Laura and they didn’t live near. Fury was going to be away for a while on his mission and no matter how invincible she tried to be, she knew she’d need help. So, if Steve was offering, she’d take it.

 

They could be friends.

 

They sat in silence for a few seconds before James stood up and ran back to them. He placed the sketchbook between them and pointed at the very Picasso-like sketch of the gazebo.

Natasha wanted to laugh, but Steve was nodding, taking everything that James was saying very seriously.

“This is great!”

Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

“Seriously!” Steve chuckled, “I like it! As you learn, you’ll be able to correctly make proportions.”

“Heard that, mama?” James beamed at her. “Mister Steve likes it!”

“He does!” She ruffled his hair, grinning. “What’s this?” She pointed to the big circle with a triangle on top – it was right next to the large uneven rectangle that she assumed was the gazebo. Behind the gazebo was, what she thought was, the water fountain with water spouting out in all directions.

“The birdie,” he chimed, handing Steve the pencil, “I wanted to draw you and Mister Steve, but I didn’t have space left.” James climbed on her lap and turned his little body to face Steve. “Can you teach me how to draw my mommy? I want her to look so pretty!”

Natasha laughed. “You don’t think I look pretty?”

James turned to her; his eyes wide. “Mama, you’re the most gorgeous-est _ever_!”

She laughed a little harder, squeezing him to her when she kissed his cheek. “I love you, sweetheart.”

“You are!” He huffed. “Right, Mister Steve? My mama is the prettiest.”

At that moment, she wished she hadn’t coloured her hair blonde. If she had stayed a redhead, she could have attempted to blame the pink on her cheeks as a reflection of the sun.

Steve just grinned at James – because she refused to meet his eyes – and nodded. “She is.”

Who was he to disagree? The boy clearly had an intellectual outlook on art. His mother _was_ very pretty, but he’d never make that comment without at least a few shots of the strongest liquor he’d ever have.

“See?!” James squirmed, trying to get her to see _reason_. “Even Mister Steve thinks so! He’s gonna help me draw you really pretty, mama.”

“Okay, baby,” she kissed his temple and prayed that the topic changed soon.

James leaned back against her, placing his arms over hers and played a little with her fingers. He placed his feet by Steve’s thighs and giggled when Steve poked his sneakers. “Mama?”

“Yeah?” She carded her fingers through his hair, tucking a few curls behind his ear.

“I’m hungry.”

“What do you want to eat?”

He pursed his lips, giggling when he tried to trap Steve’s hand between his feet. “Mm, pizza?”

“We can get pizza.” There was a beat of silence while she hesitated with her offer, but eventually decided to go for it. “Would you want some? I still owe you that lunch for helping me with the boxes,” she rambled, “but it’s okay if you don’t want to. I don’t want to force you.”

James turned to look at Steve. “Oh please, Mister Steve!”

“I’d love to.”

James squirmed out of her lap and threw himself in Steve’s arms. He squeezed him tightly and Natasha watched with a sweet smile on her face. Steve was laughing happily, the sides of his eyes crinkled, and his shoulders shook – and the sound was something that made Natasha feel warm all over.

As they walked back to their houses, James held their hands and laughed loudly when they swung him.

Steve made a comment, something she didn’t hear because she wasn’t really paying attention, she was focused on the chiming sound of James’ laughter and how picturesque they looked. It was like a taste of what she _could_ have.

 _Friends_ – that’s what they were going to be and that’s how it would stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried fixing the format, but it didn't cooperate, sorry! But hope you guys liked xx


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